


Swept Away

by kiyala



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mermaids, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-01
Updated: 2015-11-01
Packaged: 2018-04-29 07:25:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5120027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiyala/pseuds/kiyala
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Murasakibara doesn't enjoy the beach as much as the rest of his family does, until he finds a swimming partner.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Swept Away

**Author's Note:**

> For [**MuraHimu Week**](http://fuckyeahmurahimu.tumblr.com/post/131906699747/hello-everyone-welcome-to-the-murahimu-week-2015) \- Day 7!

Atsushi doesn't particularly like the beach.

It's hot and sunny and there's sand everywhere. The water's always too cold and he needs to go too far out before it gets deep enough for him to do anything but just _stand there_. The rest of his family is shorter, and they tend to panic, when they look out into the sea and find him by his bright hair, floating out in the distance where the currents are stronger and the waves are larger. It doesn't bother him so much, but their constant nagging to be careful and not to go so far can get annoying. It's much easier to just sit by the rocks, letting the water lap at his feet as he works his way through his hoard of snacks. 

Beach days are tolerable, because at least he gets to relax. He isn't really made to do anything except for help setting up lunch, and his family stopped dragging him into their beach volleyball games when he started getting too tall and too competitive. They might happen more often than he would like, because is family has a holiday house right by the sea, but they let him wander off and do his own thing, so it's not as bad as it could be. 

Which is how he ends up sitting by the rocks, looking out at the sea while the rest of his family plays beach volleyball, and sees someone else out in the water, where the sea gets darker and deeper. It's not very often that Atsushi even sees anyone else at this beach because it's a small place and there are larger beaches nearby. He frowns and shields his eyes from the sun to take a better look, just in case he's imagining things, but the person's still there, pale skin standing out against the waves. 

It makes Atsushi curious. He gets up, finishing his ice cream and putting his bag full of snacks with the rest of his family's belongings, before he pulls his shirt off to wade into the water. 

Even if it's easy for Atsushi to keep his head above the water, walking out into the deeper areas is an interesting sensation, with the waves pushing against him, throwing him off balance. He uses his arms to help him cut through the water ahead of him, weakening the resistance a little. It takes him a while, but every time he looks out in front of him to check that the other person is still there, they are, either not having noticed him or just ignoring him, and the rest of his family on the sand. 

"Hey," he calls out, once the water starts getting a little deeper, reaching up to his shoulders. It's easier to let himself float than to keep trying to walk now and he lets the waves carry him out a little further. He looks around, frowning. "Where did you go?"

He's alone in the water, which just doesn't make sense. He floats there, looking all around him, and maybe the other person has ducked under the water for a while, but he waits for longer, and they still haven't surfaced. It's a little creepy, Atsushi thinks to himself. He's sure he's not just imagining things. 

"Oh, so you're swimming again," a voice comes from behind him, and Atsushi turns, his eyes going wide as he sees the person from before—or perhaps not exactly a _person_ , judging by the light grey tinge to their skin, and the scattering of scales across their shoulders, and the gills on their neck. Their face looks human enough, with dark hair framing their face, wet and sticking to their skin. One of their eyes is covered but the other is completely black, watching him with an unwavering intensity. 

"I found a sea monster," Atsushi says, glad that his voice as flat and bored as ever, because it hides the fact that he's a little scared. He's out here alone, with something not quite human, and he's most likely the weaker swimmer out of the two of them. There isn't much he's going to be able to do if he's attacked. 

The sea monster laughs, and Atsushi glimpses a flash of sharp teeth. He has a nice face, Atsushi thinks distantly. He's pretty, even with the scales and teeth and unnervingly dark eyes. It puts Atsushi on guard a little more, because he knows better than to judge anything by the way it looks. 

"I thought your people called my kind _mermaids_. Or mermen, I suppose." 

"Oh." Atsushi blinks. "Where's your tail?" 

The merman ducks underwater again and Atsushi sees the hint of a long tail barely break the surface of the water—just enough to be visible—with dark grey, iridescent scales that shine in the sunlight. Atsushi squirms with discomfort as he feels something thin and wide brush against his leg, perhaps the fluke of the merman's tail.

"So." He's surfaced again, smiling. "What do you think?"

Atsushi frowns. "What am I meant to think? You have a tail, isn't that weird?"

"You have _legs_ ," the merman laughs softly. "That's kind of weird to me."

"I guess so," Atsushi concedes, humming in thought. "You said I'm swimming _again_. I haven't seen you before."

"That doesn't mean I haven't seen _you_ before," the merman counters. "You're the only person who ever comes out this far into the water. Everyone else just stays by the shore and it's a little boring. I can't go that far towards the land or I'll end up beaching myself. That will only end up being awkward for everyone involved. But then you haven't been swimming out here for a while and I was starting to get lonely."

"I thought I was alone here anyway," Atsushi mutters. "But now I have to swim with you? That sounds like a pain." 

"It's safer if you swim out here with someone else, though, right?" the merman reaches out for Atsushi's hand. "I'll show you the best places to swim. We'll stay in sight of the shore. You'll be fine, just let me know if you get tired, okay? I'll take care of you, Atsushi—that _is_ your name, isn't it? I hear your family call you that sometimes. I'm Tatsuya."

"Yeah," Atsushi nods, taking the hand offered to him. "Tatsuya."

It's strange swimming hand in hand with someone else, but Tatsuya leads him out to where the waves are easier to ride, teaches him to align his body with the flow of the water, until it feels like they're connected. He's a patient teacher, praising Atsushi as he picks things up, ever mindful of the difference between their stamina. 

Atsushi's breathless by the time he makes it back to the shore, but that's only a little to do with the swimming and mostly to do with the way Tatsuya held him as they swam back to where the water grew shallower, never outright mentioning the fact that Atsushi is tired, but supporting him all the same, hands firm against his sides. 

His entire family is waiting for lecture him when he gets back; both his parents and all of his older siblings, worked into a panic because they couldn't find him and doesn't he know that he should tell someone before he goes swimming, and that he shouldn't swim so soon after eating in the first place. 

He apologises to them, glancing over his shoulder, out to the sea. He doesn't tell them that he was safe the entire time, that he wasn't alone the way they all think he was, but Tatsuya's a secret that he think he might keep to himself. 

In any case, he's suddenly much more enthusiastic about the thought of his family spending the rest of the week out at the beach house. It's going to be fun.

**Author's Note:**

> A huge, huge thank you to the lovely [Andrea](http://atsushhi.tumblr.com/) for running MuraHimu week and for her constant, infectious enthusiasm about all things MuraHimu!


End file.
